This time the top-ranked Florida Gators would not be denied.
Facing a 2-1 deficit in the seventh inning against Mississippi State in the second game of Saturday’s SEC doubleheader, the Gators rallied for a 6-2 victory that was capped off by Kelsey Bruder’s walk-off grand slam. The victory followed an 11-2 Florida victory in the opener at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
Just six days ago, Florida (38-3, 17-1 SEC East) came up short in a similar position against Alabama. The Gators were just a few feet away from a Michelle Moultrie walk-off home run that would have turned a 6-1 seventh-inning deficit into a 7-6 victory against the Tide. That near-escape was in the back of every hitter’s mind as she stepped to the plate in the final inning.
“We weren’t going to let it happen again,” Ali Gardiner said. “Coming from behind and winning is such an adrenaline rush. That’s what you live for. You live for runners in scoring position, two outs, you’re up. That’s why I play the game. I don’t want to say I’d love to be there every time, but that’s why I play.”
Gardiner almost didn’t get to live out her dream situation when Tiffany DeFelice hit a ground ball right to the second baseman that set up the game-ending double play. But Aja Paculba kept the Florida hopes alive with her takeout slide of the shortstop that prevented the throw. The play left runners at first and third for Gardiner, who came through in the clutch with a game-tying RBI single to left field. The runners advanced to second and third on the throw to home.
Mississippi State (17-19, 2-12 SEC West) had to pick its poison with Francesca Enea stepping to the plate. The Bulldogs elected to intentionally walk Florida’s power hitter in favor of Bruder, who was 3-for-5 with 6 RBI on the day, to create a more favorable left-hander pitcher (Lindsey Dunlap) versus left-hander hitter (Bruder) battle.
Staring down a full-count with two outs and the bases loaded, Bruder made the Bulldogs pay for their decision, launching the game-winning grand slam into the trees behind right field.
“Oh, it definitely does,” Bruder said when asked if the Bulldogs’ decision to pitch to her instead of Enea gave her extra motivation. “You always want to prove yourself. I mean I’m new here in the SEC, so I’m trying to make a name, but also just trying to get the ‘W’ for my team.”
It wasn’t exactly what the doctor ordered, but coach Tim Walton surely couldn’t disagree with the outcome.
“Coach always says we don’t need a home run,” Bruder said. “You don’t need to be the hero. Just get a single or anything. So I thought, ‘I hope he’ll be OK with this.’”
The rest of the Gators were more than OK with the outcome, as Bruder’s hit resulted in what Stacey Nelson called Florida’s “first-ever dogpile” at home plate. The pileup was an outpouring of Florida’s adrenaline-driven emotion.
“At second base,” Gardiner said. “I was telling (Bruder) I’ve never been that – I don’t want to say nervous – but my adrenaline has never rushed that much. Ever. I knew she was going to get hit because of the way Kelsey was approaching this girl or she was going to hit a bomb. It was one of the two. The girl was scared to walk her and instead hung the pitch right where she loves it and it went over that big tree.”
The Gators didn’t seem like they would ever be in that position against a team they just crushed 11-2. Florida was firing on all cylinders in the opening game, as Paculba, DeFelice and Megan Bush all went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate. Bush also capped off an eight-run second inning with her 10th home run of the season.
But Florida had difficulty duplicating that performance against Dunlap in the nightcap.
“We don’t see (left-handed pitchers) very often,” Gardiner said. “But she also kept us on our toes with her off-speed pitches, too. Whereas the righty was – she’s a good pitcher – but she’s more or less like we’ve seen all year long. The lefty gives us a different look.”
But the Gators were able to solve the left-handed mystery just in time to pull out the victory.
Stephanie Brombacher strung together a gutsy performance in the second game, only allowing three hits and two runs (one earned) while striking out seven in five innings of work. Florida’s comeback kept Brombacher’s perfect career record (36-0) intact, but a loss would have come with an asterisk.
“Stephanie’s sick,” Walton said. “She’s been sick two games in a row. She hasn’t been able to eat since Tuesday night. I almost didn’t even start her that game and we’re kind of kicking ourselves in the dugout that we did. We put her in a situation that could potentially get a loss. But she made no excuses. I told her, ‘Don’t make any excuses about your sickness.’ She said she was ready to go and she probably only had about four good innings in her anyway.”
Nelson (22-3, 0.50 ERA) entered the game in the fifth with runners on second and third and no outs. Kristina Hilberth immediately gunned down the runner at third in what appeared to be a botched suicide squeeze attempt. Nelson proceeded to retire the last five batters of the game, four of them on strikeouts. The performance followed her five-hit, 10-strikeout victory in game one.
The teams will play the series finale Sunday at 1 p.m.